Teen killed by stray bullet in back yard

The headline in the June 16, 1999, edition of The Arizona Republic read: Stray bullet strikes, kills Phoenix girl.

The story began: A bullet fell from the sky Monday night and killed a "sweet and bright and very decent young lady" who had just stepped into the back yard of her central Phoenix home.

Shannon Smith, 14, was talking on a phone with a friend when she was struck in the head and killed by what police say was a stray bullet from an unknown source.

When & Where

Smith's father found her just before 11 p.m. on June 14, 1999, in the back yard of their home near Central Avenue and Camelback Road.

Summary

Shannon Smith, who would have entered Xavier College Preparatory in the fall, spent June 14, 1999, at home. From noon to 9 p.m., Shannon talked off and on with her best friend, both on the phone and online. Between 9:15 and 9:30 p.m., Shannon was on the phone with another friend when she said she heard what sounded like a "car accident or something" out on Camelback Road. Shannon told her friend she was going to go out into her back yard to see if she could see anything. She put her friend on hold and never came back. The friend finally hung up around 10 p.m.

Shannon's father, Otis, had been watching television when he noticed the red light flashing on the family room phone around 10:35 p.m. He went to her room to tell her to hang up. He looked for Shannon inside the home before finding her outside, laying face up in the grass, with a portable phone about three feet from her body.

Otis tried to revive his daughter with CPR until firefighters arrived. Shannon's mother, Lory, rode in the ambulance with her to a nearby hospital.

The teen was pronounced dead less than an hour later.

"Oh my god, I can't believe she's dead," a distraught Lory Smith told Otis when he arrived at the hospital.

A single bullet had struck Shannon on the top of her head. Police believe it was fired straight up within a mile of Shannon's home. Several residents reported hearing gunfire the night Shannon was killed, but no suspects ever emerged.

A year after Shannon's death, in July 2000, the Legislature enacted Shannon's Law, a measure that makes firing a gun into the air a felony.

Investigator

Phoenix police Detective A.R. Scott.

New technology's role in this case

Police have the bullet that was removed from Shannon's brain during an autopsy. The markings on the bullet would be unique to the gun it was fired from, believed to be one of four models of 9mm semiautomatic handguns. Over the years, police have tested numerous guns that have come into their property room. But none has been linked to the bullet.

How you can help

Call the Phoenix Police Department's General Investigations Bureau at (602) 262-6141 and ask for Detective Scott, or call Silent Witness at 1-800-343-TIPS.